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| James Chippendale, president of CSI Insurance, at the inauguration opening ceremonies stage |
Most event attendees don't think about all of the little details that make a festival, concert or celebration successful–but as any insurance professional knows, all of these pieces, no matter how insignificant they may seem, must be covered. Insuring a massive event like the presidential inauguration could seem daunting to most, but James Chippendale, president of CSI Insurance in Dallas, took it all in stride when his company insured the historical inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20–an event that drew roughly 2 million people.
CSI, founded by Chippendale 15 years ago, has insured major concert festivals such as Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, concert tours for performers such as the Dixie Chicks, and provides artists' liability to other renowned musicians and bands. The company also has a division that insures hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
"There are many moving parts when it comes to insuring a large festival," Chippendale said. "You've got to think about everything from the hot dog vendors and the portalettes to the staging company and the performing artists. Every single component of the event has to have proper liability insurance. I think that is how covering events differs from covering other types of businesses–there typically aren't a hundred suppliers that are involved in that."
For a large-scale event, everything needs to be considered–from insuring the millions of dollars of technical equipment that will be used, the workers' compensation for all of the employees and volunteers, liquor liability if alcohol is being served, automobile exposures for the rented vehicles and golf carts, and event cancellation insurance should bad weather cancel an event, delay it or shrink the attendance and damage profits.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies hired C3 Presents, a company that produces concerts and events, to produce the election night party in Chicago's Grant Park and the inauguration. C3 was in charge of ensuring that every aspect of these events was taken care of, and it hired CSI and Indemnity Insurance Corporation of DC, Risk Retention Group, to oversee the coverage of the production of both of these events. CSI previously had worked with C3 with Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
For an event like Lollapalooza, CSI has months, or even an entire year, to finalize the details, but it didn't have the luxury of time when insuring the inauguration. With the whirlwind of the election in November, CSI officially wasn't pulled into insuring the inauguration until the end of December, leaving only about a month to look at the details, size and scope of the event.
"It was pretty hectic, considering it was slated to be one of the largest gatherings of people ever in the United States," Chippendale said.
CS3 produced the opening ceremonies concert at the Lincoln Memorial, the parade and part of the swearing-in ceremony. Despite the magnitude of the event, Chippendale said that the process of insuring it didn't deviate too far from the company's normal event routine.
"To be honest, it was very similar to covering any large event," Chippendale said. "The only element that was really different was working with many different security risks." For a typical large-scale event, the company only deals with city police and a selected security firm. For the inauguration, CSI had to work with numerous government agencies.
Chippendale arrived in Washington, D.C. days before the event to make sure that all of the insurance details were taken care of, including performing risk assessment, walking through the event and being on site during the inauguration to resolve any immediate issues and to oversee the event. He said that he went through the same steps as he normally would–just keeping in mind that this event was at a much grander scale. He declined to answer any questions about the coverage details.
Chippendale was able to watch the inauguration from about 150 yards away from the stage–not an easy task, considering the amount of people vying for a spot near the action. But what struck him as unusual was the peacefulness of the crowd. "All things considered, with the size of the crowd and the cold weather, the people were extremely well-behaved and everyone was in a very happy place," he said. "People who had tickets were turned away, but no one got violently upset. They were just happy to be in the area."
Chippendale said that covering the inauguration took things to a whole new level for CSI Insurance. "What I learned from this experience is really paying close attention the details and minutiae of what is happening and the types of risks we are covering," he said. "Sometimes agents and brokers can sell products without looking at the total risk assessment of their client. Whether it is an event like this or insuring a manufacturer, you have to look at all the moving parts that are involved."
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